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GoM suggests making GST inclusion in MRP mandatory Maximum retail price of goods must include the GST component to effectively address consumer complaints that some retailers charge the new indirect tax on MRP of products, a high-level panel of state finance ministers has recommended. The group of ministers, headed by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has in its recommendation to the GST Council on easing compliance burden on small and medium enterprises suggested that the government make it amply clear in the present law that MRP is the maximum price of a product to be sold in retail and charging anything above this is an offence. The Mint, New Delhi, 31th October 2017

Customs duty on polyester fabric raised to 20% The central government has decided to increase the basic customs duty on polyester fabric to 20 per cent, from 10 per cent, with effect from last Friday. In the Goods and Services Tax regime, countervailing duty has been replaced with Integrated GST and Special Additional Duty (SAD) has been scrapped. Polyester fabric attracted 10 per cent basic customs duty, 12.5 per cent countervailing duty and four per cent SAD in the pre-GST regime. After scrapping of the SAD and levy of five per cent GST on the fabric, the imported variety attracted 10 per cent basic customs duty and five per cent IGST. This was a significant drop and the domestic manufacturing industry had petitioned in alarm, to stop cheaper import, especially from China. The industry had represented to the government and the GST Council to increase the basic customs duty. P Nataraj, chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association said the price of man-made fibre in India was higher by…

E tailers global warehouses may come under tax net Warehouses of e-commerce companies based in countries such as Australia, Japan, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia may not be exempted from paying the income tax in India once the multilateral instrument (MLI) to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) comes into force. BEPS refers to the reporting framework mooted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and signed by over 100 countries, including India, to prevent exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules to shift profits by multinational companies (MNCs) artificially to low-tax regimes. The representatives of 68 countries on June 7 this year signed an agreement (MLI) in Paris to amend their tax treaties to bring them in alignment with measures to prevent BEPS. However, there is still time for synchronising tax treaties with the multilateral instrument. India has submitted only provisional lists of reservations. Under most of the current bil…

Aadhaar linkage order burdens AMCs Asset management companies (AMCs) are feeling the burden of the Association of Mutual Funds in India’s (Amfi’s) decision to make the Aadhaar citizen identification mandatory for investment. From January 1, Aadhaar details of customers, including existing ones, are to be mandatory for investment in MFs. Insiders told Business Standard this was an order to Amfi from the Union ministry of finance. "We just passed this on as an official communication to members," said an Amfi board member. He added no AMC was in favour, as this puts the onus on them to link Aadhaar. Most top officials preferred anonymity, as they did not want to be quoted against the new rules of the game. Swarup Mohanty, chief executive officer (CEO) of Mirae Asset, says, "The task of getting all investors to list their Aadhaar number with us is big. Failing which, the folios would enter into a freeze zone and no transactions would be allowed. We have started the process fr…

Last date for filing GSTR-2, 3 extended by a month GSTR-2 is the most important return for GST compliance since the availability of input tax credit depends on it The government on Monday once again extended the deadline for filing the goods and services tax (GST) returns for purchases and input-output transactions for July. The last date for filing purchase return, or GSTR-2, was extended to November 30, from October 31. That of input-output transactions, or GSTR-3, was put off to December 11, from November 10. “To facilitate trade, the last date for filing GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 for July 2017 has been extended to November 30 and December 11, respectively,” a government tweet said. Archit Gupta, chief executive officer, ClearTax, said, “The earlier last date for filing GSTR-2 coincided with the deadline for submission of audited income tax returns and as such was putting a strain on some taxpayers.” GSTR-2 is the most important return for GST compliance since the availability of input tax cre…

Small traders set to get fresh GST relief Panel wants increase in composition scheme threshold to Rs 1.5crore; reduction in rate and allowing interstate supply.A highlevel panel goods and services (GST) in its meeting Sunday recommended major changes in the new tax system that may compliance burden assessees and make the scheme more attractive. It also proposed further the burden for restaurant The group of state ministers (GoM), led by Finance Minister Himanta Sarma, recommended that payers be allowed to file returns, even as those annual turnover of Rs1.5 crore had to pay the tax month, sources said.The GST Council in its meeting had decided allow taxpayers withaup to Rs 1.5 lakh to file quarterly payment and return filing.Additionally, the panel suggested a reduction in late filing fees to Rs 50 per day, against Rs 200 at present. In a mega relief for small and medium enterprises, the panel recommended an overhaul of the composition scheme in the form of reducing rates, hiking the eli…

GSTN Dials Taxpayers for Feedback on Filing To make the biggest technology backbone for tax filing more convenient, GST Network (GSTN) has started conducting surveys by calling up taxpayers enquiring about their experience on the portal. GSTN chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey said about 500 calls a day are made from a full-fledged call centre seeking feedback from businesses which have filed returns. “In the GST system, we constantly keep on collecting feedback from the public. We also do survey every day and proactively call business which have filed returns. We ask for their experience and where they had difficulty,“ Pandey told PTI. GSTN in June opened a call centre and publicised the helpline number for taxpayers with enrolment related queries. Some staffers from this centre have been assigned to get feedback of taxpayers who are filing returns and paying taxes on the portal. The Economic Times, New Delhi, 30th October 2017